Here in the UK summer ended yesterday. Officially, the 22nd of September marks the end of warm summers days and ushers in the cold autumn air. The morning air is now cool and crisp, but we are still experiencing warm, dry days. As much as I love summer, there is just something about autumn which makes me feel alive.

Here in the UK autumn is perfect for lawn care. Our lawn took a beating whilst our extension was built. The spoil from the build was put on the front lawn, and the lawn at the rear was churned up by diggers as they redirected drains and dug foundations. Since the building work has been completed, I have done little to fix the damaged lawn. This was due to the heat and how dry the grass can get in the summer heat, unlike places like wales, we get very little rain during the summer months.

I have added some lawn feed and weed killer to the lawn we have left in preparation for the autumn and spent hours de-thatching and scarifying the lawn, not something I’m looking to do again in a hurry. However, the impact on my lawn was quite dramatic. It went from what I can only describe as looking old looking fresh. The number of weeds reduced, moss was killed off, and new blades of grass grew creating a soft and colour saturated lawn.

With the back lawn on the road to recovery, I turned my attention to the front. This was a whole different kettle of fish. The lawn had been ultimately killed off by the building work and was now covered in weeds and full of building debris. I do my best to not use weed killer, but I made an exception for this. Weed killer, and a bit of time to let it work, killed off the weeds and my son and I set to clearing out the rubble. A couple of weekends and blisters later, the ground we cleared of stones and racked flat.

As of writing this post, grass seed has been sown, watered, and only time will now tell how well I have prepared the ground. Hopefully, I will soon have a new lawn, and the damage caused by the building work starts to be covered over and forgotten.